Jungsan Senim

This April, the Silicon Valley Contemporary art fair celebrated artist Jungsan Senim with an invitation to feature his stunning razorblade sculpture, Gustave Mahler #2. Following this great success, Senim is offering his latest artwork at Sandra Lee Gallery for our May exhibition. A Korean monk-turned artist, Senim infuses his artwork with Buddhist ideas. His work often contains less conventional or unlikely materials, such as razorblades, nail polish, and matchsticks. The resulting effect is a strong post-modern quality that permeates his art.

In his latest exhibition, Jungsan Senim explores truth in silence through depicting the notion of “no writing in writing.” Senim created these pieces by writing long sentences about this concept, shredding all of these writings, and rolling them up. By doing so, he utilizes an ancient form and style of calligraphy, and elevates it to represent organic portrayals of truth. Collages of fish and flower petals represent symbols of the truth in nature, highlighting that we are nature as well as connected with nature. In doing this, Jungsan insists his viewers understand that a red flower is red, as green leaves are green – The truth needs no explanation, rather it just is. His work signifies that silence can be louder than words. For Senim, silence does not mean “no talking,” rather it is a tone of voice so low that sound cannot be heard. Ultimately, though there are many words contained within each piece, they are drowned out by the meaning of the images they create. Indeed, art itself is a language that has the power to transcend ideas words can never truly convey.